1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to blowout preventers made from plastic, which may be enhanced with graphene, phosphorescent material or other suitable material, having sleeves that fit inside well pipes, and make use of well pressure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown by events six years ago in the Gulf of Mexico, and more recently in California, oil and gas well blowouts are a serious threat to the environment, and can be very costly. There is a need for reliable devices for recovering from blowouts. None of the prior inventions discussed below are equivalent to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,543,456 issued on Jun. 23, 1925, to Robert Stirling, discloses a blowout preventer, without the use of plastics as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,848, issued on Dec. 22, 1970, to Gerhardt C. Stichling, discloses explosively actuated valves, but does not disclose the use of plastics in a blowout control device, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,979, issued on Oct. 23, 1973, to John T. Petrick, discloses a well casing cutter and sealer, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,094, issued on Sep. 14, 1976, to Fritz Schröder and Klaus Rössel, discloses a quick action slide valve with a sliding plate, but does not disclose the use of plastics as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,138, issued on Sep. 14, 1976, to Duane L. Knopik, discloses an underground fluid recovery device, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,749, issued on Aug. 5, 1980, to Roy R. Dare and Jeff L. Merten, discloses a gate valve for shearing workover lines to permit shutting a well, using a shear plate and pistons. The instant invention is distinguishable, in that only uses plastic parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,207, issued on Sep. 2, 1980, to Neil W. Allen, discloses a sea floor diverter, without the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,827, issued on Nov. 24, 1981, to Rajam R. Murthy and Billy J. Rice, discloses a guided-float accumulator suitable for use with a hydraulic system for an oil well blowout preventer, using reaction forces that oppose Bernoulli effect forces, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,467, issued on Mar. 15, 1983, to Neil W. Allen, discloses a sea floor diverter, without the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,523, issued on Apr. 3, 1984, to Jerome H. Milgram and James Burgess, discloses a separating collector for subsea blowouts, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,639 issued on Jun. 18, 1985, to Roland M. Howard, Jr., discloses ram-type blowout preventers, with a piston and a locking mechanism to hold the plate in the channel after the pipe has been cut, but does not disclose part made from plastic, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,220, issued on Feb. 4, 1986, to John J. Hickey, discloses a system for capping and/or controlling undersea oil or gas well blowouts, but without the use of plastics as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,069, issued on Aug. 12, 1986, to McClafin et al., discloses a method for producing heavy, viscous crude oil, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as is the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,284, issued on Oct. 28, 1986, to Jean-Jacques Delarue and Claude Ego, discloses a pyrotechnic valve that may either close an initially open pipe or open an initially closed pipe, but does not disclose the use of plastic parts, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,676, issued on Nov. 13, 1990 to Joseph L. LaMagna, discloses an air pressure pick-up tool using the Bernoulli effect, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as is the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,854, issued on May 7, 1991, to John A. Bond, discloses a pressure release valve for a subsea blowout preventer that is a hydraulically operated, without making use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,164, issued on Nov. 12, 1991, to Tri C. Le, discloses a blowout preventer with metal inserts resembling the plates in the instant invention, but does not disclose parts made from plastic, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,591, issued on Aug. 4, 1992, to Richard L. Vockel, Jr., Robert E. Myers and Ladson L. Fraser, discloses a process of making a phosphorescent fiber reinforced plastic article, but does not disclose its use in making a blowout preventer, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,212, issued on Oct. 20, 1992, to Thomas B. Bryant, discloses a method and system for controlling high pressure flow, such as in containment of oil and gas well fires, but does not disclose pistons whose movement is limited by flanges, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,496, issued on Apr. 6, 1993, to Clifford L. Redus and Peter L. Sigwardt, discloses a subsea pumping device incorporating a wellhead aspirator, using the Bernoulli effect, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,502, issued on Apr. 7, 1998, to Bryce A. Levett and Mike C. Nicholson, discloses a blowout preventer with ram blocks resembling the plates in the instant invention, and is hydraulically actuated. The instant invention is distinguishable in that it has plastic parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,904, issued on Feb. 22, 2000, to James A. Burd and Kenneth J. Huber, discloses a method and apparatus for commingling and producing fluids from multiple production reservoirs, but it does not disclose the use of plastics, as is the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,040, issued on May 9, 2000, to Leonid L. Levitan, Vasily V. Salygin and Vladimir D. Yurchenko, discloses a method and apparatus for the withdrawal of liquid from well bores, but not the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,779, issued on Sep. 19, 2000, to Larry Joe Gipson and Stephen Leon Carn, discloses a method and system for separating and disposing of solids from produced fluids, but it does not disclose the use of plastic valves and piping, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,568, issued on Mar. 12, 2002, to Alec Carruthers, discloses a sliding plate valve, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,888, issued on Aug. 5, 2003, to Lon McIlwraith and Andrew Christie, discloses contactless handling of objects, using the Bernoulli effect, but the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,570, issued on May 25, 2004, to Hans -Paul Carlsen, discloses a valve element, which may be used for closing a channel in a blowout preventer, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,713, issued on Jul. 17, 2007, to C. Steven Isaacks, discloses a shear/seal assembly for a ram-type blowout prevention system. The instant invention is distinguishable, in that it discloses the use of parts made from plastics.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,785,557, issued on Aug. 31, 2010, to George Gruner, David Hecht and Liangbing Hu, discloses a method of producing a graphene film as transparent and electrically conducing material, but does not disclose its use in a blowout preventer, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,987,903, issued on Aug. 2, 2011, to Jose Jorge Prado Garcia, discloses an apparatus and method for containing oil from a deep water well, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,016,030, issued on Sep. 13, 2011, to Jose Jorge Prado Garcia, discloses an apparatus and method for containing oil from a deep water oil well, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,010,182, issued on Apr. 21, 2015, to Matthew S. Glenn, discloses a rain gauge, which includes a tube with phosphorescent material, but does not disclose the use of tubes with phosphorescent material in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0050828, published on Feb. 26, 2009, to Jeffrey Charles Edwards, discloses blowout preventers with a housing having a throughbore resembling the channel in the instant invention, which may be closed by a pair of opposed rams, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0171331, published on Jul. 8, 2010, to Stefan Jonas and Lutz Redmann, discloses a Bernoulli gripper for holding two-dimensional components such as silicon-based wafers, but does not disclose the use of plastic valves and piping, as is the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0143045, published on Jun. 16, 2011, invented by Vijayen S. Veerasamy, discloses large area deposition of graphene on substrates, and products including the same, but does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0309475, published on Nov. 21, 2013, invented by Vijayen S. Veerasamy, also discloses large area deposition of graphene on substrates, and products including the same, but again does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0144541, published on May 29, 2014, invented by André Luis Moreira De Carvalho and Nadia Khaled Zurba, discloses graphene-based steel tubes, pipes or risers, methods for the production thereof and the use thereof for conveying petroleum, gas and biofuels, but does not disclose graphene impregnated plastic tubes, pipes or risers, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Publication. No. 2014/0147675, published on May 29, 2014, invented by Shu-Jen Han and Qing Cao, discloses a structure and method for a graphene-based apparatus, but does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention.
U.S. Patent Publication. No. 2015/0099214, published on Apr. 9, 2015, invented by Nguyen C. Khe, Hieu Dinh and Dien Dinh, discloses a physically functionalized graphene hybrid composite and its applications, but does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention.
British Patent No. 2 175 328, published on Nov. 26, 1986, to Richard Theodore Mitchell, discloses an oil well drilling apparatus, including a blowout preventer stack, without the use of plastic parts, as in the instant invention.
Canadian Patent No. 2 506 828, published on Oct. 29, 2006, inventors Dean Foote and Scott Delbridge, discloses a blowout preventer with rams that are hydraulically actuated, without the use of plastic parts, as in the instant invention.
Soviet Patent No. 1427057, published Sep. 30, 1988, inventors Y. U. A. Gavrilin, L. M. Torsunov and B. V. Venedictov, discloses a blowout preventer with a flat blocking gate, but does not disclose the use of plastic parts, as in the instant invention.
Chinese Patent Publication No. 103865205A, published on Jun. 18, 2014, invented by Ji Nun et. al., discloses high-strength plastic pipe made using graphene, but does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention. (Only the English Abstract of this document is available in the Public Search Room in the headquarters of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.)
Chinese Patent Publication No. 104004252A, published on Aug. 27, 2014, invented by Chen Houzhong, discloses a method of preparing graphene-modified polyethylene aluminum-plastic composite tubing, but does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention. (Only the English Abstract of this document is available in the Public Search Room in the headquarters of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.)
Chinese Patent Publication No. 104151696A, published on Nov. 19, 2014, invented by Chen Houzhong, discloses a method of preparing graphene-modified polypropylene steel-plastic composite pipe, but does not disclose its use in blowout preventers, as in the instant invention. (Only the English Abstract of this document is available in the Public Search Room in the headquarters of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.)
U.S. Pat. No. 8,205,678, issued on Jun. 26, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,418,767, issued on Apr. 16, 2013, U.S. Pat. No. 8,555,979, issued on Oct. 15, 2013, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,651,189, issued on Feb. 18, 2014, all to Philip John Milanovich, the inventor and applicant herein, all disclose a blowout preventer with a Bernoulli effect suck-down valve. The instant invention is distinguishable, in that only it discloses the use of plastic valves and piping.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,316,872, issued on Nov. 27, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,567,427, issued on Oct. 29, 2013, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,794,308, issued on Aug. 5, 2014, all to Philip John Milanovich, the inventor and applicant herein, disclose blowout preventers using plates propelled by explosive charges. The instant invention is distinguishable, in that only it discloses the use of plastic parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,794,333, issued on Aug. 5, 2014, to Philip John Milanovich, the inventor and applicant herein, discloses a blowout preventer that uses both plates propelled by explosive charges and a Bernoulli effect suck-down valve, but does not disclose the use of plastics, as in the instant invention.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.